Canada wins U19 bronze at home

KINGSTON, Ontario, June 28, 2025.- Canada was able to manage the young, talented Dominican Republic team to win in the tie-break today at the U19 Girls’ Pan American Cup at Queen’s University in Kingston, Ontario, Canada.

The home crowd cheered Canada on to the 3-2 (25-22, 25-18, 18-25, 19-25, 15-10) win and the bronze medal.

Canada led in attack points 58-50, blocking 10-4, while Dominican had one more ace (11-10). Canada also made more errors 35-24.

Sydney Bell (16) and Sol Henson (14) led in points for Canada. Ambar Hernández (16) and Julie Millaray Arias (13) were top scorers for Team Dominican Republic.

“It was a great team effort for us,” explained Canada’s head coach Gina Schmidt. “Dominican served tougher than they did in the previous match we played against them. We were in system a lot in our first match, and they added some service pressure today, which got us out of our rhythm with our offense. Once we kind of settled that down and put on more pressure from service from our side, we were able to work our way back into the match. I loved the way our team reacted in that fifth set.  Everyone found a way to contribute, so that’s important as we head into the next tournament.”

Most teams at the Pan Am Cup are using this tournament to prepare for the FIVB Girls' U19 World Championship 2025, which will be held in Serbia and Croatia in early July.

The gold-medal match is next to determine place 1-2.

Dominican Republic is fourth. Venezuela finished fifth. Puerto Rico is sixth and Costa Rica is seventh.